Identifying the Error Log File Location in SQL Server

Overview

Transaction log files contains records of all database transactions to help users in ensuring data integrity at the time of system restore. However, there are many other log files for diagnosing and troubleshooting problems. In this blog,we will be discussing about one such log file i.e. SQL Server Error Log File and find various ways to identify the location of this Error Log File file.

What is SQL Server Error Log File?

The Error Log File associated with SQL Server Database is one of the most important log files, which is used to troubleshoot system problems. The SQL Server retains backups of previous six logs, with the names of each files given sequentially. The default name of the error log file is ERRORLOG. The SQL server error log file contains not only the errors, but also the information related to the error.

How to identify SQL Server Error Log File location?

Some of the ways to identify the error log file location in SQL Server are as follows:

Using T-SQL Command

The first option will work when the SQL Server is running and is connected to the desired database. Use below T-SQL command that uses extended stored procedure XP_READERRORLOG.

This will help in reading the SQL Server Error Log to find location of errorlogs used by the SQL Server Instance.

Using SQL Server Configuration Manager

We can find the location of error log file using SQL Server Configuration Manager. This option is used when the SQL Server is running but user is not able to connect. The steps for using SQL Server Configuration Manager are as follows:

Conclusion

The blog discusses the importance of log files used in SQL Server Database. Users are aware of only transaction log files used for recording every transaction. However, many other log files are used such as Error Log Files that describes not just the errors but also the information related to that error. As the Error log file plays an important role to troubleshoot the system issues, the blog discusses several possible ways on how to check SQL Server Error logs.